Bloomington Public Schools and school districts across Minnesota continue to work through fiscal challenges including state funding that fails to keep pace with inflation, evolving student needs, declining or flat enrollment, and rising operational costs. To realign its financial goals of to find efficiencies and cost-saving measures that align with the district’s strategic plan, leaders prepared a series of budget reduction recommendations totalling $5 million for the 2025-26 school year, as part of its multi-year Right Sizing the Budget (RSB) process.
The School Board approved the $5 million target on Monday, Sept. 23, and is expected to receive another update and request for approving the budget reduction proposals on Monday, Oct. 28.
The RSB process includes opportunities for community, staff, student and family feedback.
Consolidate early childhood programs
One of the more difficult decisions in the district’s right sizing the budget process is a proposal to repurpose Washburn Elementary School into an early childhood center to house Pond, Southwood and all of the district’s early childhood programs. This plan is part of a broader effort to maximize district resources while continuing to provide high-quality early childhood education to our youngest learners.
Beginning in fall of 2025, Washburn students will join the elementary school communities of Normandale Hills, Poplar Bridge and Valley View. This move requires expanding the enrollment boundaries for those three elementary schools, as follows (refer to map):
- Normandale Hills (see purple section in map below): East of France Ave.; south of 84th St.; west of Penn Ave. S.; south of 86th St.; west of 35W; north of 92nd St.; west of Penn Ave S.
- Poplar Bridge (see blue section in map below): East of France Ave; south of American Blvd. W.; west of 35W; north of 86th St.; east of Penn Ave. S.; north of 84th St.
- Valley View Elementary (see yellow section in map below): East of 35W; south of 86th St.; east of Pillsbury Ave.; south of 84th St.; north of 92nd St.
- Washburn students currently open-enrolled intra-district (outside their home attendance area) will be placed in their neighborhood school at the conclusion of the 2024-25 school year. Families may request a transfer to another BPS school during the intra-district transfer period, Nov. 1-30. No intra-district transfers are permitted for the current school year.
- Families of current out-of-district open enrolled Washburn students will need to complete an inter-district enrollment request for a new school placement in 2024-25. Requests to attend another BPS elementary school may be made by email enrollment@isd271.org or 952-681-6555.
- Washburn families may request a transfer to another BPS school during the intra-district transfer period, Nov. 1-30. No intra-district transfers are permitted for the current school year.
Programs shift to new sites
As part of the district’s efforts to optimize educational resources, several programs previously housed at Washburn, Pond and Southwood will be relocated to other schools and facilities for the 2025-26 school year.
The relocations have been carefully planned to ensure the educational needs of students are met with minimal disruption. The transition process has been designed to provide continuity of learning while maintaining the same level of academic and student support.
Washburn Elementary School based programs relocation plan:
- Renaissance Program to Hillcrest Community School. Renaissance serves students who have traditionally been underserved by gifted and talented programs, and provides a path for students to progress into any of the district’s middle school advanced learner options (DA, Nobel, etc.)
- Center-based special education programs to Westwood Elementary.
- New Code Academy (elementary school base) to Oak Grove Elementary
Pond & Southwood based programs relocation plan:
- Head Start to Washburn Early Learning Center
- Two additional Pond programs - American Indian Education Office and Health Commons at Pond - continue to be studied for the most suitable location
Finding ways to reduce expenses without compromising essential educational services may include streamlining bus routes which is likely to alter school start times for students across the district. Running our own fleet of buses, while relying on contracted bus services due to a shortage of drivers, has steadily increased costs. BPS transportation officials believe consolidating bus routes may save $400,000.
With more than 80 percent of its students transported daily, school start times would need to be adjusted to accommodate the reconfigured bus schedules. A staggered schedule allows us to maximize our buses and drivers across multiple routes. By adjusting start times, we can run more efficient routes with fewer buses.
Transportation officials are finalizing several proposals to share with the public for review and comment.
Middle school principals and district leaders continue to develop models for revising the middle school schedule. This work is part of the district’s budget reductions for the 2025-26 school year, ensuring we remain fiscally responsible while maintaining a balanced and effective timetable that meets the needs of all students and staff. The team is committed to creating a schedule that supports both academic success and a positive learning environment.
January-May, 2024: Administration determines a need to reduce the 2025-26 budget by $5-$6 million to control spending and bring more alignment between revenue and expenditures.
April-May, 2024: Cabinet, principals and program leads are informed of the need to right size the budget, and begin discussing areas to save costs.
May, 2024: Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and Executive Director of Finance complete an internal draft Right Sizing the Budget (RSB) plan to determine the $5-$6 million in adjustments for the 2025-26 school year.
Aug. 8, 2024: School Board and Cabinet retreat to review and discuss 2025-26 Right Sizing the Budget.
Aug. 20, 2024: Inside Page newsletter to all staff includes RSB updates.
Aug. 22, 2024: 2025-26 RSB target of $5 million shared with district leadership.
Aug. 28-30, 2024: The Back-to-School issue of School Pages (community newsletter) arrives at Bloomington residences with an RSB update, including an anticipated proposal of a $5-$6 million adjustment.
Sept. 11, 2024: Staff and families of Washburn Elementary, Pond and Southwood Early Learning Centers received information about repurposing Washburn into an early childhood center.
Sept. 17, 2024: District-wide staff and families received information about repurposing Washburn Elementary.
Sept. 23, 2024: School Board presentation and School Board approval of the $5 million target for reductions.
Sept. 24, 2024: RSB webpage is updated with proposed 2025-26 budget reductions.
Sept. 30, 2024: Staff and families of Washburn Elementary received information about proposed 2025-26 boundary attendance areas.
Oct. 1, 2024: District-wide staff and families received information about where Washburn Elementary programs would be relocated.
Oct. 2, 2024: RSB presentation to the Bloomington Parent and Family Advisory Council.
Oct. 7, 2024: School Board Public Hearing about proposed closing of Pond and Southwood.
Oct. 8-10, 2024: The Fall issue of School Pages (community newsletter) arrives at Bloomington residences with information on RSB proposals.
Oct. 14, 2024: School Board Listening Session and Study Session for public engagement to gather feedback and provide RSB updates.
Oct. 28, 2024: School Board votes unanimously to close Pond and Southwood early learning childhood centers and repurpose Washburn Elementary School to house all district early childhood and preschool programs beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
School Board Parameters for RSB
The School Board refers to a Guiding Change Document for the 2025-26 RSB process. This document outlines why right sizing the budget is needed, results expected from the process, and a list of unacceptable means to accomplish right sizing the budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Administration welcomes questions and feedback from staff, families and students. Relevant and common questions and responses will be regularly added to the Frequently Asked Questions.
Factors Impacting the Budget
We find ourselves in this situation due to a number of factors including:
Declining Enrollment
Our K-12 enrollment continues a gradual year over year decline. While the Oct. 1 enrollment count for this year is weeks away from public release, we expect Bloomington’s enrollment will be flat or decrease slightly based on projection models. BPS is not alone in this challenge as a majority of metro and greater Minnesota school districts are experiencing a loss of students. With state funding largely distributed through per student formulas, this decline has significant compounding impacts on revenue.
State Funding
State funding continues to be a factor, even after the historic funding approved by the Minnesota State Legislature during the 2023 session. While these investments are appreciated, the funding primarily addressed shortages school districts have endured for years to cover increasing costs for special education and English learners programming. The education bill also included new mandates, programs and requirements with increased costs. Some of these are funded, others partially or temporarily funded, and several with no funding at all.
Federal Relief Funds Ending
Federal pandemic relief funds came to an end this year. Before the pandemic, we made budget adjustments on an annual basis to balance the budget. This practice was put on hold when the pandemic hit in part because of the one-time federal pandemic relief funds. A portion of those funds in combination with our fund balance allowed us to pause budget adjustments for the past four years.